City of Angels

1998 Drama

An angel must decide if love is more important than eternal peace in this Americanized adaptation of Wim Wenders' modern classic Wings of Desire. Seth (Nicholas Cage) is an angel who hovers over the city of Los Angeles, listening to people's thoughts, observing their lives, and guiding them to the next world when they die. While Seth and his fellow angels try to offer comfort to people as they can, they are discouraged from direct contact with humans and are usually invisible to them. While at a hospital, Seth sees Maggie (Meg Ryan), a dedicated heart surgeon who attempts to save the life of a patient Seth was to call upon. Maggie is distraught after the patient passes, and her agony touches something inside the reserved Seth; he finds himself falling in love with her, and he decides to make himself visible so he can communicate with her. As Maggie gets to know the strange visitor in black who has suddenly appeared in her life, she finds herself torn between her new feelings for Seth and her attachment to her fiancé Jordan (Colm Feore), a fellow doctor. Seth, on the other hand, has a serious choice to make -- between immortality and giving it up in order to know both the pleasures and pains of being a human being. City of Angels also stars Dennis Franz as Messinger, a patient at the hospital who has some important advice for Seth. The film's soundtrack featured two Top Ten hits, "Iris" by the Goo Goo Dolls and "Uninvited" by Alanis Morissette. more..

Director: Brad Silberling

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan,Andre Braugher, Dennis Franz, Colm Feore

Reviews

  • Though far from a seamless work, the film is gorgeously crafted, and Silberling obviously has a passion for angels. But then these days, who doesn't?

    Rita Kempley - The Washington Post

    19 January 2013

  • What I did appreciate is that City of Angels is one of the few angel movies that knows one essential fact about angels: They are not former people. "Angels aren't human. We were never human," observes Seth. This is quite true. Angels are purely spiritual beings.

    Roger Ebert - The Chicago Sun-Times

    19 January 2013

  • An odd hybrid but a successful one. It marries the lyricism and heavy atmosphere of a European art film with the soaring spirit of a Hollywood love story.

    Mick LaSalle - The San Francisco Chronicle

    19 January 2013

  • A fascinating hybrid. A Hollywood fantasy at its most fantastic, the film is equal parts true innocence and shameless calculation. Deciding whether the glass is half empty or half full depends on which part you are willing to embrace.

    Kenneth Turan - Los Angeles Times

    19 January 2013

  • This is the sort of movie in which everyone on screen is swathed in gauzy benevolence. You practically have time to say a prayer in the dead spaces between lines.

    Owen Gleiberman - Entertainment Weekly

    19 January 2013

Awards

  • Most Performed Songs from Motion Pictures

    ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards (1999)

  • Best Actress

    Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (1999)

     
  • Johnny Rzeznik

    BMI Film & TV Awards (1999)

  • Favorite Actor - Drama/Romance

    Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (1999)

  • Bogey Awards, Germany (1998)